Lawyers Mumbo Jumbo: Double Jeopardy

 We are not lawyers ... but we need to understand their lexicon (lawyers always have their own lingo only they can understand. Same with doctors, nurses, and engineers) 

We spend our waking hours on YouTube, and we are always exposed to hearings and debates, as well as their private conversations. All we do is scratch our heads because they use legal terminologies that sound too foreign and alien to our virgin ears, and our mind wonders what they are talking about.

Let's start decoding and decrypting these words and phrases (it is irreverent for us to enter the sanctum of the in ... but desperate times need desperate measures) so the next time they use these terms again ... we are on the same page with them.  Not in limbo.

We will try to dissect and define them in simpler language so ordinary mortals and laymen (the amateur and the non-experts) can actively participate in the discussion ... and at the same time broaden their legal and paralegal stock knowledge,

So our word or phrase that is hitting the headlines today is: Double Jeopardy.

PHRASE: Double Jeopardy

MEANING: Double jeopardy means nobody can be accused and nobody can be charged with the same offense repeatedly.  This tenet protects people from being prosecuted for the same crime twice.

The double jeopardy clause bars second prosecutions after either acquittal or conviction, and prohibits multiple punishments for the same offense.

EXAMPLE: The Court of Appeals remanded the decision acquitting Leila de Lima in one of the three dismissed drug cases. 

According to CA, the Muntinlupa court committed grave abuse of discretion as it failed to explain the specific facts as well as the laws on which de Lima's acquittal was based. They feel that the acquittal was based solely on the recantation of witness Rafael Ragos,

CA cited the Muntinlupa Trial Courts' failure to adequately justify their ruling as one reason people are considering reopening the case or trying to prosecute her again. 

Leila de Lima's supporters came to her rescue, citing double jeopardy - that the former senator ... now a congresswoman, could not be charged again - she has already served her punishment in jail for more than six years, even though she was innocent.

And they could not charge the defendant over and over again, until she was found guilty.

Another well-known case of double jeopardy ever recorded is the infamous O.J. Simpson murder trial. In 1995, football legend O.J. Simpson was ACQUITTED of the brutal murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.

Reopening the case was mission impossible ... thanks to the double jeopardy clause that protects the accused from turning himself again under the microscope of public scrutiny.